Today in TV History: Ringo Starr Wasn’t the Only One to Appreciate Marge Simpson’s Artistic Talent

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: When talking about the great classic Simpsons episodes, the ones that focus on Marge tend to be the ones with the most pathos. A housewife whose husband is a fat lout and whose kids are, by turns, rebellious and a know-it-all, Marge’s life is often shown to be one of quiet desperation. Early episodes saw Marge tempted by a suave bowler and traumatized by Homer’s awful behavior at a dinner party. In “Brush With Greatness,” Marge has the full support of her family, but she’s beseiged by self-doubt. The show didn’t re-visit Marge’s passion for painting very often, but it did often show Marge seeking out fulfillment in other ways (becoming a community theater actress; becoming a cop). Still, her time spent painting a portrait of Mr. Burns is notable because it’s the rare moment where Marge steps out of her own familial shadow but still gets to show her support for her family.

When Burns lays into Homer about his weight — Homer had been trying very hard to shed a few pounds in this episode, after a very embarrassing water-slide incident — Marge leaps to his defense and instead embarks upon a new artistic strategy: brutal honesty. The wonderful twist in the episode is that Marge finds more humanity in Burns by laying him bare (literally) than she ever did by trying to paint a hero portrait of him.

It’s amazing to see The Simpsons firing on all cyllinders so early in its run. From the Jon Lovitz-voiced art teacher (“another triumph!“) to the perfectly calibrated guest turn by Ringo Starr (the first member of the Beatles to guest on The Simpsons; he’d be followed by George Harrison in “Homer’s Barbershop Quartet” and Paul McCartney in “Lisa the Vegetarian”), the episode is an all-time great one.